Judges Matter, the judiciary watchdog has come out to defend the magistrate presiding over EFF leader Julius Malema's 2018 firearm discharge case after he accused her of being incompetent and corrupt. East London Magistrate Twanet Olivier denied Malema's application to have the matter thrown out of court last week Thursday.

Addressing his party members outside court, Malema accused Olivier of being disorganised and receiving calls from Minister of Public Enterprises Pravin Gordan and President Cyril Ramaphosa and not using her own conviction when judging the matter. "When she delivered her judgment, you could see that she is not convinced because it's not her own conviction. Who adjourns court during judgment to go backseat and receive calls from Gordhan and Ramaphosa? When she came back you could see she was shaking like hell because it's not her judgment," Malema told his supporters. In a statement the organisation labelled Malema's comments as an attack on the judiciary, a threat to judicial independence, and almost certainly a violation of the Constitution. "Malema accused Magistrate Olivier of wrongdoing in how she prepared and delivered her judgment. None of his claims were substantiated, nor did he offer any evidence to corroborate them. Notably, Mr Malema said nothing about the legal merits of the judgment. It's therefore hard to see Mr Malema's utterances as anything but an attack on Magistrate Olivier as a judicial officer, and the institution of the judiciary," read the statement.

Judges Matter added that this is not the first attack against Magistrate Olivier by Malema, following a similar outburst after she dismissed a recusal application in February this year, which Malema did not appeal. "While the comments of the nature uttered by Mr Malema would not be acceptable coming from anyone, they are even more damaging coming from someone of his stature. Mr Malema, as a member of Parliament, has sworn an oath to protect and promote the Constitution. He has a legal, ethical, and constitutional duty, in terms of section 165(4) of the Constitution, to take all measures to protect the judiciary. Furthermore, section 165(3) prohibits anyone, through their words or actions, from interfering with the judiciary in any way," Mbekezeli Benjamin, a researcher at Judges Matter, added: "Because judicial ethics restrain judicial officers like Magistrate Olivier from challenging attacks such as Mr Malema's comments, Judges Matter comes out strongly in defence of judicial independence. Left unchallenged, Mr Malema's comments will send a chilling message to other judicial officers that they should not dare issue judgments against powerful figures who command a large audience. We call on Mr Malema to immediately retract and apologise for his unfortunate comments,"

Malema has not responded to the organisation.